EMPIRE’S WAR MACHINE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21211, 6 September 1940, Page 4

EMPIRE’S WAR MACHINE

Reviews of the war efforts in all Empire countries at the close of the first year of the conflict give a stirring picture of a great nation at war. Organisation for such a gigantic struggle is sometimes of necessity tantalisingly slow. It cannot be otherwise in modem warfare, and the nation which has deliberately been preparing for years has an initial advantage. The technique of war takes much longer to master when aeroplanes, tanks and other modern equipment are used than in the days when a man armed with a sword or a musket was as good as his enemy at short notice. Modern warfare is more ponderous in spite of its deadly slaughter. When two great nations clash they organise the whole of their resources, and the one with the greatest resources and the most effective organising ability will eventually win. This war is as much an economic struggle as a battle of arms, and when the position is viewed in that light there is reason for complete confidence in the outcome. Germany’s resources, even allowing for all her gains in Europe, are not comparable with those of the British Empire, backed by its access to the production of the United States and other neutral countries. Germany began with the advantage of knowing when and where the war would begin, but those advantages are steadily falling away from her. Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and many colonies are admirably seconding Britain’s gigantic effort, with the result that the Empire enters the second year of the war as a vastly more formidable enemy than a year ago. While Germany and Italy have probably passed the peak of their production, the Empire has not reached anything like full capacity. Germany knows that is so, and that is why she is making a desperate attempt to batter Britain into submission with air raids and submarines. Britain is supremely confident that she can hold the enemy at bay while the present summer fades into winter and while the Empire’s great war machine grows in power.